Steph Lucas and Shakira Floyd, the founders of Satori Ops, have been on quite the journey together.

Both hailing from Plymouth, it was a chance meeting in Poole which set them on their path to where they are today – the brains behind the UK’s first official ClickUp implementation partner.

Speaking to Dorset Biz News, Shakira explained: “We started setting up the business because we recognised the professional potential when we first met – we’re both very attentive to detail.

“Since then we’ve realised how similar we are, and our friendship has blossomed to the point we recently went on holiday together!”

Both Shakira and Steph have a background in business operations, which they’ve used to inform their work on Satori Ops and their decision to focus on ClickUp.

“When we would give our clients an array of different options, they would tend to focus on the biggest names in project management software.

“The problem is that these often have a lot of limitations, which means we’re then looking at integrating other technology to tailor it perfectly to their needs.

“ClickUp does everything we want it to.”

Satori Ops became a ClickUp partner in May and being the only partner in the UK makes the company ideally positioned to grow alongside the platform, which started out in only 2017.

“It’s already massive in the US, but it’s still growing in the UK market,” Shakira explained. “It’s still technically a start-up after all.

“Having competitors with stronger names and a 10-15 year head start is a challenge, but ClickUp does everything we want it to and we’re in a good position to grow alongside it.

“It also helps that we’re not selling the packages, we just build it onto businesses.

“So, we’ll do a business audit, find out about the client’s pain points, audit the technology they already have and then come up with a plan as to how we extract all the information and put it onto the new platform.”

Shakira went on to detail how this fits in nicely with how she and Steph prefer to work.

“We’re not hard sales people,” she said.

“We don’t want to have to convince people to use the product. If people come looking for advice on operations we’ll look at their processes and workflows and give them several options.

“I think it’s about being honest – ClickUp might not work for everyone. But people usually come to us knowing what we do and how we can help, so we don’t really have to explain what we it.”

FOUNDRY, Poole

One way in which Shakira and Steph are helping to drum up business is through their connections at the FOUNDRY, the Poole-based co-working space which they work from.

“We’ve started doing free monthly demos to showcase how it works and how it can be adapted and customised to individual business needs – hopefully showing that regardless of the size of your business or what industry you’re in, it could work for you.

“Being located in the FOUNDRY is also massive for us. It’s like a little community with a great social environment in which you regularly have conversations with people you wouldn’t plan or expect to!”

Satori’s FOUNDRY base also gives them space to grow in the future.

“We’re renting a four-person office at the moment, so there’s space for us to expand in the future if we get to that point.

“We currently work with freelancers sometimes, which can be costly, so hopefully in the future we’ll be able to grow the team.

“It’s just Steph and I at the moment though – she builds out the technology and I’m more front facing, focusing on customers and sales.

“We work so well together, it’s something which regularly comes up in feedback from our clients. We’ve grown as friends and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

• https://satoriops.co.uk/

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